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2008 年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题
Section IUse of English
Directions:
Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D
on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
①The idea that some groups of people may be more intelligent than others is one of those
hypotheses that dare not speak its name. ②But Gregory Cochran is 1 to say it anyway.
③He is that 2 bird, a scientist who works independently 3 any institution. ④He
helped popularize the idea that some diseases not 4 thought to have a bacterial cause were
actually infections, which aroused much controversy when it was first suggested.
① 5 he, however, might tremble at the 6 of what he is about to do. ②Together with
another two scientists, he is publishing a paper which not only 7 that one group of humanity
is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. ③The
group in 8 are a particular people originated from central Europe. ④The process is natural
selection.
①This group generally do well in IQ test, 9 12-15 points above the 10 value of
100, and have contributed 11 to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the 12
of their elites, including several world-renowned scientists, 13 . ②They also suffer more
often than most people from a number of nasty genetic diseases, such as breast cancer. ③These
facts, 14 , have previously been thought unrelated. ④The former has been 15 to social
effects, such as a strong tradition of 16 education. ⑤The latter was seen as a(n) 17 of
genetic isolation. ⑥Dr. Cochran suggests that the intelligence and diseases are intimately 18
.⑦His argument is that the unusual history of these people has 19 them to unique
evolutionary pressures that have resulted in this 20 state of affairs. (295 words)
1. [A] selected [B] prepared [C] obliged [D] pleased
2. [A] unique [B] particular [C] special [D] rare
3. [A] of [B] with [C] in [D] against
4. [A] subsequently [B] presently [C] previously [D] lately
5. [A] Only [B] So [C] Even [D] Hence
6. [A] thought [B] sight [C] cost [D] risk
7. [A] advises [B] suggests [C] protests [D] objects
8. [A] progress [B] fact [C] need [D] question
9. [A] attaining [B] scoring [C] reaching [D] calculating
10. [A] normal [B] common [C] mean [D] total
11. [A] unconsciously [B] disproportionately
[C] indefinitely [D] unaccountably
1 / 1212. [A] missions [B] fortunes [C] interests [D] careers
13. [A] affirm [B] witness [C] observe [D] approve
14. [A] moreover [B] therefore [C] however [D] meanwhile
15. [A] given up [B] got over [C] carried on [D] put down
16. [A] assessing [B] supervising [C] administering [D] valuing
17. [A] development [B] origin [C] consequence [D] instrument
18. [A] linked [B] integrated [C] woven [D] combined
19. [A] limited [B] subjected [C] converted [D] directed
20. [A] paradoxical [B] incompatible [C] inevitable [D] continuous
Section ⅡReading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.
Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
①While still catching up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way
ahead in at least one undesirable category.②"Women are particularly susceptible to developing
depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men," according to Dr.
Yehuda, chief psychiatrist at New York’s Veteran’s Administration Hospital.
①Studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormones somehow affects the stress
response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than do males
under the same conditions.②In several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their
ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responses became equal to those
of the males.
①Adding to a woman's increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased "opportunities " for
stress.②"It's not necessarily that women don't cope as well.It's just that they have so much more
to cope with," says Dr.Yehuda.③"Their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater than
men's," she observes, "It's just that they're dealing with so many more things that they become
worn out from it more visibly and sooner."
①Dr.Yehuda notes another difference between the sexes.②"I think that the kinds of things that
women are exposed to tend to be in more of a chronic or repeated nature.③Men go to war and
are exposed to combat stress. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence.④The
kinds of interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by,
unfortunately, parents or other family members,and they tend not to be one-shot deals.⑤The
wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating. "
①Adeline Alvarez married at 18 and gave birth to a son, but was determined to finish college.
2 / 12②"I struggled a lot to get the college degree. I was living in so much frustration that that was my
escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better."③Later her marriage ended and she became
a single mother.④"It's the hardest thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay
the car payment, and pay the debt. I lived from paycheck to paycheck. "
①Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes.②But most
women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the
strain.③Alvarez's experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress
before it threatens your health and your ability to function.（419 words）
21. Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?
[A] Women are biologically more vulnerable to stress.
[B] Women are still suffering much stress caused by men.
[C] Women are more experienced than men in coping with stress.
[D] Men and women show different inclinations when faced with stress.
22. Dr. Yehuda's research suggests that women.
[A] Need extra doses of chemicals to handle stress
[B] Have limited capacity for tolerating stress
[C] Are more capable of avoiding stress
[D] Are exposed to more stress
23. According to Paragraph 4, the stress women confront tends to be.
[A] domestic and temporary
[B] irregular and violent
[C] durable and frequent
[D] trivial and random
24. The sentence "I lived from paycheck to paycheck." (Line 5, Para. 5) shows that.
[A] Alvarez cared about nothing but making money
[B] Alvarez's salary barely covered her household expenses
[C] Alvarez got paychecks from different jobs
[D] Alvarez paid practically everything by check
25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
[A] Strain of Stress: No Way Out?
[B] Responses to Stress: Gender Difference
[C] Stress Analysis: What Chemicals Say
[D] Gender Inequality: Women Under Stress
Text 2
①It used to be so straightforward.②A team of researchers working together in the laboratory
would submit the results of their research to a journal.③A journal editor would then remove the
authors' names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review.④Depending
on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it.
3 / 12⑤Copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results
would have to subscribe to the journal.
①No longer.②The Internet—and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why
commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access
to it—is making access to scientific results a reality.③ The Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching
consequences of this.④ The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and
Graham Vickery of the OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made
handsome profits.⑤ But it goes further than that.⑥It signals a change in what has, until now,
been a key element of scientific endeavor.
①The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in
part, upon wide distribution and ready access.② It is big business.③ In America, the core
scientific publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion.④The International
Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers says that there are more than 2,000
publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects.⑤They publish more than 1.2 million articles
each year in some 16,000 journals.
①This is now changing.②According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals
are now online.③Entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by
the report's authors.④ There is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for
access to a collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements.⑤There is open-
access publishing, typically supported by asking the author (or his employer) to pay for the paper
to be published.⑥Finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities
or international laboratories support institutional repositories.⑦Other models exist that are
hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read
a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see
it.⑧All this could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the
publication of papers.（411 words）
26. In the first paragraph, the author discusses.
[A] the background information of journal editing
[B] the publication routine of laboratory reports
[C] the relations of authors with journal publishers
[D] the traditional process of journal publication
27. Which of the following is true of the OECD report?
[A] It criticizes government-funded research.
[B] It introduces an effective means of publication.
[C] It upsets profit-making journal publishers.
[D] It benefits scientific research considerably.
28. According to the text, online publication is significant in that.
[A] it provides an easier access to scientific results
4 / 12[B] it brings huge profits to scientific researchers
[C] it emphasizes the crucial role of scientific knowledge
[D] it facilitates public investment in scientific research
29. With the open-access publishing model, the author of a paper is required to.
[A] cover the cost of its publication
[B] subscribe to the journal publishing it
[C] allow other online journals to use it freely
[D] complete the peer-review before submission
30. Which of the following best summarizes the text?
[A] The Internet is posing a threat to publishers.
[B] A new mode of publication is emerging.
[C] Authors welcome the new channel for publication.
[D] Publication is rendered easier by online service.
Text 3
①In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National
Basketball Association (NBA) listed at over seven feet.②If he had played last season, however, he
would have been one of 42.③The bodies playing major professional sports have changed
dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to
fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.
①The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have
generally stopped growing.②Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago,
today's people—especially those born to families who have lived in the U.S. for many generations
—apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s.③And they aren't likely to get any taller.④"In
the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we've pretty much gone as far as
we can go," says anthropologist William Cameron Chumlea of Wright State University.⑤In the
case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common
practice of recruiting players from all over the world.
①Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients—
notably, protein—to feed expanding tissues.②At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and
childhood infections got in the way.③But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents
have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known
as the secular trend in height.④Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
average height—5′9〞for men, 5′4〞for women—hasn't really changed since 1960.
①Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height.②During
childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal.③Moreover, even
though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle
with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize
limbs.④"There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual
5 / 12organism," says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.
①Genetic maximums can change, but don't expect this to happen soon.②Claire C. Gordon,
senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., ensures that 90 percent of the
uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration.③She says that, unlike those for
basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time.④And if you need to
predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and
large, "you could use today's data and feel fairly confident. "（440words）
31. Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to.
[A] illustrate the change of height of NBA players
[B] show the popularity of NBA players in the U.S.
[C] compare different generations of NBA players
[D] assess the achievements of famous NBA players
32. Which of the following plays a key role in body growth according to the text?
[A] Genetic modification.
[B] Natural environment.
[C] Living standards.
[D] Daily exercise.
33. On which of the following statements would the author most probably agree?
[A]Non-Americans add to the average height of the nation.
[B] Human height is conditioned by the upright posture.
[C] Americans are the tallest on average in the world.
[D] Larger babies tend to become taller in adulthood.
34. We learn from the last paragraph that in the near future.
[A] the garment industry will reconsider the uniform size
[B] the design of military uniforms will remain unchanged
[C] genetic testing will be employed in selecting sportsmen
[D] the existing data of human height will still be applicable
35. The text intends to tell us that.
[A]the change of human height follows a cyclic pattern
[B] human height is becoming even more predictable
[C] Americans have reached their genetic growth limit
[D] the genetic pattern of Americans has altered
Text 4
①In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington,
52, was nearly toothless.② So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw—having
extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.
①That's far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember
from their history books.②But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery
6 / 12played in the lives of the founding generation.③They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence
made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one
child with his slave Sally Hemings.④ And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined
history from the bottom up. ⑤ Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made
by the nation's early leaders and the fragile nature of the country's infancy.⑥More significantly,
they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong and yet most did little to
fight it.
①More than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the culture of their
time.② While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also
understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to
create.
①For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves.②Owning slaves was "like
having a large bank account," says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His
Slaves, and the Creation of America.③The southern states would not have signed the Constitution
without protections for the "peculiar institution," including a clause that counted a slave as three
fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.
①And the statesmen's political lives depended on slavery.②The three-fifths formula handed
Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the
southern states in the Electoral College.③ Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.
①Still,Jefferson freed Hemings's children—though not Hemings herself or his approximately
150 other slaves.②Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after
observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong
opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will.③ Only a decade earlier,
such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.（406 words）
36. George Washington's dental surgery is mentioned to.
[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past
[B] demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days
[C] stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history
[D] revealsome unknown aspect of his life
37. We may infer from the second paragraph that.
[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research
[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations
[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson's life
[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history
38. What do we learn about Thomas Jefferson?
[A] His political view changed his attitude towards slavery.
[B] His status as a father made him free the child slaves.
[C] His attitude towards slavery was complex.
[D] His affair with a slave stained his prestige.
39. Which of the following is true according to the text?
7 / 12[A] Some Founding Fathers benefit politically from slavery.
[B] Slaves in the old days did not have the right to vote.
[C] Slave owners usually had large savings accounts.
[D] Slavery was regarded as a peculiar institution.
40. Washington's decision to free slaves originated from his.
[A] moral considerations
[B] military experience
[C] financial conditions
[D] political stand
Part B
Directions:
In the following text, some segments have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most
suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices,
which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
The time for sharpening pencils, arranging your desk, and doing almost anything else instead
of writing has ended. The first draft will appear on the page only if you stop avoiding the
inevitable and sit, stand up, or lie down to write. (41) ______________.
Be flexible. Your outline should smoothly conduct you from one point to the next, but do not
permit it to railroad you. If a relevant and important idea occurs to you now, work it into the draft.
(42) _____________. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling can wait until you revise. Concentrate
on what you are saying. Good writing most often occurs when you are in hot pursuit of an idea
rather than in a nervous search for errors.
(43) _____________. Your pages will be easier to keep track of that way, and, if you have to clip
a paragraph to place it elsewhere, you will not lose any writing on the other side.
If you are working on a word processor, you can take advantage of its capacity to make
additions and deletions as well as move entire paragraph by making just a few simple keyboard
commands. Some software programs can also check spelling and certain grammatical elements in
your writing. (44) _____________. These printouts are also easier to read than the screen when
you work on revision.
Once you have a first draft on paper, you can delete material that is unrelated to your thesis
and add material necessary to illustrate your points and make your paper convincing. The student
who wrote “The A&P as a State of Mind” wisely dropped a paragraph that questioned whether
Sammy displays chauvinistic attitudes toward women. (45) ______________.
Remember that your initial draft is only that. You should go through the paper many times—
and then again—working to substantiate and clarify your ideas. You may even end up with several
entire versions of the paper. Rewrite. The sentences within each paragraph should be related to a
single topic. Transitions should connect one paragraph to the next so that there are no abrupt or
confusing shifts. Awkward or wordy phrasing or unclear sentences and paragraphs should be
mercilessly poked and prodded into shape.
8 / 12[A] To make revising easier, leave wide margins and extra space between lines so that you can
easily add words, sentences, and corrections. Write on only one side of the paper.
[B] After you have clearly and adequately developed the body of your paper, pay particular
attention to the introductory and concluding paragraphs. It’s probably best to write the
introduction last, after you know precisely what you are introducing. Concluding paragraphs
demand equal attention because they leave the reader with a final impression.
[C] It’s worth remembering, however, that though a clean copy fresh off a printer may look
terrific, it will read only as well as the thinking and writing that have gone into it. Many
writers prudently store their data on disks and print their pages each time they finish a draft to
avoid losing any material because of power failures or other problems.
[D] It makes no difference how you write, just so you do. Now that you have developed a topic
into a tentative thesis, you can assemble your notes and begin to flesh out whatever outline
you have made.
[E] Although this is an interesting issue, it has nothing to do with the thesis, which explains how
the setting influences Sammy’s decision to quit his job. Instead of including that paragraph,
she added one that described Lengel’s crabbed response to the girls so that she could lead up
to the A & P “policy” he enforces.
[F] In the final paragraph about the significance of the setting in “A & P,” the student brings
together the reasons Sammy quit his job by referring to his refusal to accept Lengel’s store
policies.
[G] By using the first draft as a means of thinking about what you want to say, you will very
likely discover more than your notes originally suggested. Plenty of good writers don’t use
outlines at all but discover ordering principles as they write. Do not attempt to compose a
perfectly correct draft the first time around.
Part C
Directions:
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your
translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)
In his autobiography, Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary
modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself
clearly and concisely, but（46） he believes that this very difficulty may have had the
compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus
enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed the
possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley.（47）
He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought
was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded
with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one
sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a
line of poetry.（48） On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge
made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of
reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the “Origin of Species” is one long
9 / 12argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits,
could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert
that “I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every
fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher
degree.”（49） He adds humbly that perhaps he was “superior to the common run of men in
noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.”
Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his
mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it
poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him
considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: “Now for many
years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. I have also almost lost my taste for
pictures or music.”（50） Darwin was convinced that the loss o f these tastes was not only a
loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
character.
Section Ⅲ Writing
Part A
51. Directions:
You have just come back from Canada and found a music CD in your luggage that you forgot
to return to Bob, your landlord there. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.
Do not write the address. (10 points)
Part B
52. Directions:
Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay, you should
1) describe the drawing briefly,
2) explain its intended meaning, and then
3) give your comments.
You should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (20 points)
10 / 1211 / 12答答案案速速查查表表
Section Ⅰ Use of English (10 points)
1. B2. D3. A4. C5. C 6. A7. B8. D9. B10. C
11. B 12. D13. A14. C15. D16. D17. C 18. A19. B20. A
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension(60 points)
Part A (40 points)
21. A22. D23. C24. B25. D26. D27. C28. A29. A30. B
31. A32. C33. B34. D35. C36. D37. B38. C39. A40. B
Part B (10 points)
41. D42. G43. A44. C45. F
Part C(10 points)
46.他认为或许正是这种（语言表达上的）困难迫使他长时间专注地思考每个句子，从而
使他能够在推理和自己的观察中发现错误，结果这种困难反而成就了他的优势。
47.此外，他还断言自己进行长时间纯抽象思维的能力十分有限，由此他也认定自己在数
学方面根本不可能有大的作为。
48.另一方面，某些批评家指责他虽善观察，但缺乏推理能力，他认为这种说法是缺少根
据的。
49.他谦虚地补充道，或许他“和普通人比起来，更善于注意到那些容易被忽视的东西，
并对其进行细致的观察”。
50.达尔文确信，失去了这些爱好不只是少了乐趣，而且可能会有损于一个人的智力，更
有可能有损于一个人的性情。
12 / 12
